Spending on video game hardware grew 47% to US$983 million during the first quarter of 2014, but overall total industry consumer spending on video gaming fell 1 percent to $4.6 billion compared to the same period in 2013, according the NPD research group (www.npd.com).

The dramatic increase in hardware sales can be attributed to the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and these strong year-over-year trends are likely to continue through most of 2014, according to NPD Analyst Liam Callahan. Overall content was down 8% due to a decline in new physical format spending of 27% or $372 million. In contrast to the physical declines, digital format spending collectively increased by 4%, driven by full game downloads and DLC for consoles and portables.

“For the first quarter of 2014, content spending increased for used games, digital full games, DLC, and mobile with a modest increase in subscription revenue.” Callahan said. “This is another example of the interplay of physical media as well as digital downloads as consumers transition further into this console generation.”
Gaming accessories sales fell 11% during the first quarter to $446 million, year over year, with gamepads and interactive gaming toys being the two bright spots for the category.”